here is a good enough graphics design rig i put together on a shoe string budget. it's meant to get my son's feet wet in digital graphic arts. of course if you're serious you might wanna start off with the staples from Adobe and other industry standard tools. but if you're a hobbyist or just getting into the game, or you wanna give your kids something to do this summer then this cost effective setup might be for you:
- old computer (mine's a toshiba satellite 2400, p4 1.6ghz with 256mb ram)
- cdr-king 14.1" (Php3800+) media tablet or the smaller cdr-king tablets as long as they are identical to these genius models:
G-pen, Genius Wizardpen, Genius Mousepen, Genius Easypen i405)
- these instructions
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/TabletSetupWizardpen and
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=8311575&postcount=35- ubuntu 9.10 (free)
- Gimp (free) a little slow on my old machine
- Krita (free) great with the pen tablet
- inkscape (free) great with the pen tablet
NOTE that all CDR-KING brand tablets identical to the GEnius brand is, in fact, the same banana for about a third of the price (the genius M712 below is listed at over USD200, and is exactly the same rebranded WALTOP unit as the 14.1" cdrking media tablet)
also, it is a comfort to know that GIMP, Krita, and Inkscape are pro-grade apps which most probably have most of Adobe's functionality. i am no expert so i will leave you to explore the wonders of these open source apps
